The federal government appeared to be on the verge of calling a public inquiry on foreign interference Wednesday after months of resisting calls from the opposition to do so.
The Liberals were nearing the end of talks with opposition parties to negotiate a deal that would see the Liberals agree to call a public inquiry and be able to get through some bills they want passed before the House of Commons rises for the summer.
Government House leader Mark Holland would say only that talks with the Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Quebecois leader were ongoing and productive.
“Look, I’m not going to get into the details of the conversations at this point,” he said, following the Liberal caucus meeting on Parliament Hill. “They are ongoing and it’s important for those conversations to continue to move.”
However, Bloc Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said Wednesday morning that an agreement on the inquiry could be reached within hours.
Blanchet suggested the inquiry would focus on allegations that the Chinese government has interfered in Canadian democracy, but that it would not be restricted to that subject.
He said he believed that at a minimum, the Bloc and the Liberals would agree on details of the inquiry and that it might also be supported by the NDP and Conservatives.
Opposition leaders met themselves last week to try and come to a consensus on what they wanted the government to do.
The House of Commons was scheduled to rise no later than Friday for the summer break but the talks also involved whether that recess would begin earlier, possibly as early as Wednesday night.
The talks were being led by Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who was tasked by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with working with opposition parties to find a way forward on the foreign interference quagmire.
Opposition parties have been pushing for an inquiry for months amid repeated allegations that the Chinese government had attempted to interfere in the last two federal elections. Initially, Trudeau’s response was to appoint former governor general David Johnston as a “special rapporteur” to review documents, interview some of the people involved and decide by the end of May if an inquiry was warranted.
Johnston’s initial report said an inquiry was not the right choice, largely because so much of the material involved classified evidence that cannot be made public. But the opposition parties skewered that decision and accused Johnston of being too affiliated with Trudeau.
Johnston has said he will resign as special rapporteur before the end of the month because the work has become too hyper-partisan.
All parties agree that the 2019 and 2021 federal election results were not compromised, but opposition MPs say a public inquiry on foreign meddling attempts is the only way for Canadians to feel confident in the electoral system.
The Conservatives want the inquiry to focus heavily on the government’s handling of the foreign interference file, including what it knew about China’s alleged meddling, when it knew it and what it did about it.
The NDP want the inquiry to be broader on the issue of foreign interference in general and not be restricted to just the Chinese government.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
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